You Wouldn't Understand
by FashionistaMJ
Summary: Trent's birthday is coming soon, but he doesn't understand why his father, Anton Mercer, doesn't want him outside and has been excessively strict and overprotective of him lately. Is the reason other than what they've been though?
1. A Fresher Newer Start

**Chapter 1**

**Squeal**** to my other stories.**

**Please review anytime!**

Throughout this past summer, Trent has been on an emotional and crazy roller coaster:

_The death of his parents and his friend's moving,_

_The abuse he suffered from his aunt and boyfriend's,_

_Ms. Gray sexually abusing him,_

_His father's old rival kidnapping him._

Despite all that, Trent has been much more refreshed better than before. With the recent therapy sessions with his therapist and the recent self-defense classes he has been taking, he is up, ready, and eager to have fun.

Trent's alarm clock rings and wakes him right up. It was a Saturday, and it was eight o'clock. He was eager to get up since in two weeks, it would be Trent's twelfth birthday and it would be the first birthday without his late parents and with Anton Mercer as his new adoptive father.

He gets out of bed and into the shower and changes into his favorite white hoodie, khaki cargo pants and sneakers. He starts to draw in his book for a few hours.

Two hours later, after seeing that it is a perfect day outside, instead of being cooped up in the house all day; he wanted to go to the park. This will be the first time that he would be at the park since his kidnapping that happened a few weeks ago.

He runs out the door, pasts through the living room entrance and is about to leave when,

"Trent!"

"Yeah, dad? Did you call me?"

He hears his father from the living room and goes to see him. When he does, he sees him in his usual business suit, working on some stuff for his company.

"Yes, I did." He gets up from his seat. "Just, where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to go play at the park."

He folds his arms and gave him a look. "Did you even ask me to go to the park?"

"Sorry about that. May I please goes to the park?"

"No."

"Oh, why not, dad? Why can't I go?"

"Because I'm your father and I said so."

"Come on, dad! Please? I'll be back even before dark, _way_ before dark. Please?" He practically begged him.

"No. And that's my final answer, Trent." He firmly responded. "Now please, go back up to your room. I got a lot of work I have to do and get done."

"But, dad…"

"_Now_, Trent." He calmly tells him and points out the stairs, telling him to go to his room.

Trent could at least try to reason with his dad, but quickly found it pointless to try. Besides, his dad already has a lot on his mind.

"Fine." He puts his head down and walks back up to his room. He closes the door behind him, lies down on his bed and sighs heavily.

He takes a good look out through his white window and looked beyond beautiful outside: the sun was shining, not a cloud in site and it was warm like it should be on a normal summer day.

Four hours pasted and it was two o'clock, Trent was still in his room, not allowed to go outside. To keep himself from getting more bored, he draws in his sketchbook and lies on his bed, grabs three of his old notebook, crumbling it up into little pieces of paper ball and tosses them into the trashcan, which he used as a basketball hoop.

After a while, he was starting to get seriously bored with it.

"Man," Trent had his head on his knees. "It's an awesome day today. I bet everyone's having fun outside while I'm being forced to sit in my room all day."

After a while, Trent mentally slaps his head after he felt a light bulb above his head. He knew that if he wanted to go to the park just for a little fun and to out of the house for a little fresh air, he had to sneak out.

* * *

Before he could sneak out, he finally comes up with a plan. All he has to do is tell his dad he's going to take a nap, grab one of the house keys from his office, lock the door, head down to the park and come back before his dad could even notice that he was gone.

After thirty minutes, he mapped out the enter house from top to bottom and other obstacles of the house. He puts himself together, walks downstairs and sees his dad and Dr. Gray working on some stuff together.

"Hey there, dad. Dr. Gray."

"Hey there, Trent. Where are you going?"

"Not the park _or_ outside." Anton interrupts the conversation.

"Oh no. Dad, mind if I lay down for a while?" He puts his hand on his stomach to pretend that he doesn't feel good.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Curious, he walks over to Trent's side and puts his hand on his forehead to get some kind of temperature.

"You _do_ feel a little warm. You want anything?"

"No thanks, dad. I'm just going to nap for a while, okay?"

"Okay." His dad was still feeling funny about it. "Want me to wake you up in a couple of hours?"

"Thanks, but no thanks." His father goes back to work.

Trent causally walks out of the living room and back upstairs. He sneaks into his dad's home office and grabs one of his copied house keys from his desk that open the front and back doors of the house.

After doing that, he locks the door behind him, grabs some of his clothes from the closet and drawer and stuffed them under his covers to try to fool his dad into thinking that he is taking a nap.

He back into his closet, grabs his old soccer ball, and places it under his cover. He opens the window and takes a good look outside. He looked down and it didn't seem like a long jump.

Luckily, there was a big tree by his window. He climbs out of the window and jumps onto a large branch, but was careful. He tried not to make a sound and carefully climbed down. He jumps off from the last branch and lands safely on his two feet.

"Uhh!" He exclaimed. "Yes!" He cheers to himself.

He gets a head start, sneaks around to avoid being caught, and makes a run for the gates, which he unlocks it using the code his father gave him. After walking out, he puts in the security code back in, watches the gates close and leaves the estate and run down to the park for the next couple of hours.


	2. Busted

**Chapter 2**

An hour and a half, Anton and Dr. Gray both took a break from their work.

"Man! I need a break." Dr. Gray exclaimed.

"Me too, Kevin." Anton goes into the all-white kitchen and tries to find something to eat.

While he is getting something from the kitchen, he immediately starts to think about Trent and thought,

_I guess he wouldn't mind if I made him something to eat._

A few minutes, he plants Trent a toasted sandwich on a clean white plate and throws in some chips and a glass of ice-cold lemonade. After he leaves the kitchen, Dr. Gray sees him,

"Oh you shouldn't have…" He sees the plate of food, puts his hands out for a hug, and tries to take the plate and glass out of his hands.

"I didn't; it's for Trent."

He takes the lunch up to Trent's room and Dr. Gray joins him. Dr. Gray grabs his cell phone and plans to order in some food.

He walks up the stairs and knocks on Trent's door.

"Trent? I made you something to eat, just in case you were hungry."

No one answered the door.

"Trent? Are you okay?" He knocks again. There was still no answer. He hands the food and glass of lemonade to Dr. Gray and noticed that Trent's bedroom door was locked.

Anton goes into his pocket and finds the key that locks and unlocks every door in the house and opens the bedroom door. He sees Trent's bed looking lumpy and big.

Looking suspicious, he pulls the covers over and sees Trent's clothes stuffed together and his soccer ball on the bed.

_What the…?_

His blue eyes popped out of his head and starting to go a bit crazy, but quickly realized the door to his office was wide open. Curious, he goes into his office and finds that the one of the copied house keys was missing. He walks back to Trent's bedroom, opens the window and quickly realizes that Trent snuck out of the house.

"Ho-oh!" Anton exclaimed. "When I find that boy, he will be in so much…"

Before he could finish the sentence, he sees Kevin eating the sandwich and lemonade he had made for Trent. "Kevin!"

Kevin's head snapped to him. "What? I was hungry."

Anton had an idea where Trent might be. "I know where Trent is. Let's go."

Dr. Gray was finished with the sandwich and lemonade. "I swear, Anton, if you weren't a doctor, scientist and businessman, you could have your own deli shop."

* * *

Down at the local park, Trent was relaxing in a tree, like a carefree child, being protected from the bright, yet hot sun. He thought about playing, but he enjoys relaxing even more than ever now.

Trent finally felt liberal and free when he was at the park and it was much better being here than being trapped in the house and his room all day.

But for some reason, he was starting to feel to worry and think to himself on how his father would feel if he knew he snuck out of the house.

They have been through a lot this past summer, but that does not mean that he should be trapped inside the house all the time.

To get over that feeling, Trent was craving for a pretzel; he sees a local food truck pulling up. He runs over to the truck and sees the menu. In his head, he thought, _I could use a snack. _Luckily, he had a couple of singles in his pocket.

The owner of the truck, in a gray shirt with a red dragon and his hat on backwards, opens up the truck and asks Trent,

"What can I get for you today, little guy?"

"Do you have any pretzels?" "You got it, kiddo."

He gives it to him in a paper towel as Trent gives him the dollar. He walks away, sits at a picnic table and scoff down on the pretzel. After he was done, he wipes his mouth and puts the paper towel in the trashcan.

"Mmm! The sweet taste of freedom."

"And the even greater taste of punishment." A voice said from out of nowhere.

Fearing that it wouldn't be his father, he carefully turns around and sees,

"Dad?"

_Busted! _He thought in his head

His father had his arms crossed, had this look on his face and Dr. Gray was waiting for them in the car.

"Hi." He said with a nervous smile.

"Hi. Is that all you're going to say to me?" He starts to scold at him. "Or better yet, you can tell me why you're at the park when I directly told you no, Trent." Trent stutters at first while he was scratching his head to come up with something,

"Uh…well…you see…uh…um…" His father still had his arms crossed and the look on his face when Trent was trying to think of an excuse. His father found the whole thing quite amusing.

Trent immediately looks down as he realizes it was pointless now. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" He said quietly.

"Oh-ho! _Very big _trouble."

Trent had this feeling in his stomach that after today, his father would _never_ let him leave the house again until school starts.

"Come on. We're going home."

Trent bit his lip and gulped in terror as his father led him to the car. They pull over and Trent dozed off as he was looking out the window. He thought in his head,

"_Man, I am so dead when I get home."_


	3. Grounded

**Chapter 3**

As soon as they got home, Anton went off and kept scolding at Trent, which felt like for hours, with Dr. Kevin Gray in the living room, to make sure Anton doesn't go crazy on him.

"Trent, this isn't the first time you've done something like this! You almost gave me a heart attack! How many times do I have to tell you, now? Don't leave the house without…my…permission!"

Dr. Gray was about to say something, but decided not to since this was about Anton and Trent.

"Oh, come on! I was just wanted to get out of the house for a while."

"When I told you no."

Trent did not see what the big problem was. "Why are you worrying so much over something that seems so small? Nothing happened to me this time."

"Yeah, _this_ time, but the _next_ time, something _could _happen to you, like, I don't know, maybe you met get kidnapped by an old rival and holds you for ransom _and_ revenge. Things like this happen when what comes from leaving the house."

"Well, then, what do you want me do, sit in my room all day?"

"Yes!"

He gave his father this weird look that says, _'Do you really want me to sit in my room all day?'_ He was starting to get fed up and tired of this pointless argument; it was getting nowhere with them.

"I'm not a baby anymore!" He frowns and folds his arms.

Dr. Gray interrupts the conversation between the two of them. "He knows that, Trent. He knows that. But, it's just that…" Anton cuts him off as he tries to be reasonable to him.

"Look, Trent. I just cannot keep taking this constant worrying anymore. My job is to keep you safe and protected at all time and there's only one way to do that… you've leave me no choice but to ground you for the next week."

Both Trent's and Dr. Gray's head snapped at Anton for what he said that. Dr. Gray though that he had every right to be angry with Trent for sneaking out of the house without his permission, but he didn't want to say anything anymore.

"That's right, Trent; you are not to step a _foot_ at this house for the next week without _my_ permission, you can't leave your room for some time of the day and you can only two-to-three hours of television total for each day for the next week, but _absolutely no_ video games and computer."

Trent was speechless about it. "No. Y-you can't do this."

"It's for your own good." He leads his hand out. "Now, hang over the house key you stole from my office."

"But…but…" Trent looked at Dr. Gray for maybe a little backup, but he had his arms folded and looked the other way, biting down on his lip. As he got the key out of his pocket, he hands it over to him and said,

"It's _not fair_! You just don't understand _anything_!" He gets off the couch and out of anger; he kicks a side table, knocking down a lamp and runs out of the room and to his room.

"Trent! Trent!" Anton runs after him, but Dr. Gray stops him.

"Relax, Anton. He needs time to cool down. Just give him some time, okay?" He holds him back.

"Fine." He let out a big sigh. He just hoped that Trent would understand that he is doing this for him, not for himself. To, at least, try to get the moment out of his head; he goes back to work, if he could try to focus on his work. Dr. Gray joins him to help him out with his work.

* * *

Later that night, Trent was still in his room, in his white shirt and black and white plaid pajama pants, lying down on his back while he was playing jacks on his bed, still upset about him about being grounded for the next week by his father.

"How could he do this to me? And with my birthday is right around the corner." He let out a depressing sigh as he has his chin on his knees and his arms were folded.

"Man, I _never_ get to have _any_ real fun; _never_." He bounces the ball, grabs three jacks, and catches the ball before it landed on the bed.

"He worries about _every little thing_; even when it's not even that serious or that much of a big deal or whatever. It's just not _fair!_" He throws the ball and jacks at the wall in an act of anger, and puts his hand on his cheek. "I don't know why he wants me to be in this room all day like I'm some little helpless baby."

He sees the small gold frame with him and his late parents in it, smiling like there was no tomorrow.

He wraps the picture around his arms and holds it close to his heart.

"You guys didn't have to worry about me that much." He felt a tear coming down from his eye.

Someone knocks on his door and peeked through the door.

"Trent?"

"Dad?"

He walks in the room with a plate of pasta salad and a glass of water in his hands.

"I got you something to eat, just in case you were hungry."

Trent sits up and is hang over the plate of food.

"Thanks." He begins to eat.

Couldn't take any more of the silence that was in the room, Anton cleared his throat, sat on the bed next to Trent and said,

"Trent, I understood that you're mad with me…"

"I am."

"I know that, and I understand. However, that's part of the job description for being a father. You don't have to like it; but you have to respect it."

Trent looks down as he was drinking from his glass.

"Come on, Trent, at least look at me." He places his hand on Trent's chin, making him look directly at him, face to face.

"I know you don't like, but you know that you have to deal with it and you'll be okay, alright?"

"Yes, dad."

His father gave a small hug, looked at his watch and it was nine.

"Good. It's getting at little late, so why don't you go and gets sleep?"

"Okay."

He grabs the empty plate and glass from his hands and said to him, leaving the room,

"Night, Trent."

"Night, dad."


	4. Understanding

**Chapter 4**

It was at least a few minutes to midnight and it was a summer thunderstorm with rumbles of thunder, lightning and it was pouring rain outside. Anton was walking down a hall slowly. He could hear a couple of thunder rumbles, but it did not bother him.

"Trent?" He yells in the dark hallway.

He slowly creeks the door open and sees Trent in his bed, but as soon as lightning struck and rumbles of thunder happened, Trent's kidnapper and his old rival, Steven Scotts and Trent's aunt Karen, appears and walks towards him, which freaks him out.

"Ahh!"

Anton woke up with a frightened start. His heart was pounding; his face was sweating and was breathing heavily. He sighs in relived that in fact that it was only a dream. He wipes the sweat off his face and took a deep breath.

He eventually becomes aware of his surroundings in his master bedroom: his desk, his dresser, nightstands, everything.

Just to be on the safe side, he gently gets off his bed, creakily opens the bathroom door and it was fine, his closet was good and he checked to see if the security system was still on and sees that everything is just fine.

"Oh my god." He puts his hands on his head to keep himself from going crazy.

He shakes his head to rid of all the bad flashbacks and nightmares that remind of what he and Trent been through this past summer.

"Trent!" He immediately thought of.

He stops by Trent's room and sees Trent quietly sleeping in his bed, safe and sound, despite the rambunctious thunderstorm that was happening. He sighs with relieve and plants his hand on his heart. Rumbles of thunder continued and he, himself, decides went back to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Anton was working alone in his home office. Today, he wanted to alone for a while.

As he was working, he could not get the nightmare that he had last night out of his head. He was distracted by it.

The horrible flashbacks had not stopped. Now nightmares about the events that he and Trent went though this summer were affecting his mind and work. Whenever he had those nightmares and he could never get past it and watched it all over before his eyes all over again.

To calm down, he takes a recess from his work, but before he does that, he checks up on Trent, who told him to stay in his room for the next few days after their argument last night.

He creeks opens the door and sees Trent lying down on his bed, drawing in his sketchbook, but was looking so bored and sad as he looked out the window.

A small sigh escaped him. Anton put his head sadly, sighs, and closed the bedroom door to leave him alone. He did not even want to do it, but he had to.

He was aware of him being bored, lonely and sad, but he was doing this for Trent's own good, not for himself. All he wanted was for Trent to understand that; he just cannot bear to tell him the reasons why.

* * *

Inside Trent's room, all morning, he was drawing countless manga comics and cartoons, which seemed like he was doing it for hours, but what else could he?

In Trent's head, his father's rules were never to be questioned, but he was seriously starting to get very bored with drawing, even though it could occupy him for _hours_, but this wasn't doing it for him. He felt that his father was doing it to torture him, not for punishment.

He looks at the clock on his nightstand and it was only three in the afternoon.

"Man!" He exclaimed. "This is unfair to the next millennium! I have to stay in this room during most parts of the day, I can only watch a limited amount of television and _no_ video games _and_ computer for the entire week!" He lies on his pillow.

"Oh, and I can't step a _foot_ out of this house without _his_ permission." He mocked his father's voice and sighs. "I still can't believe he did this to me."

Someone knocks on his door.

"Please leave me alone." He turns his body to face the wall.

The person peck their head open and it was,

"Trent?"

"I said... Dr. Gray?"

Dr. Gray, dressed in a simple black business suite and black shoes, walks into his room and sits on his bed. Trent sits up on his bed next to him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I am still shocked about what your father did to you. That was a bit too far."

Trent sighed in depressed. "I know. I feel like a prisoner in my own house, especially in my room." Trent lays his face on his pillow.

Dr. Gray sighs and puts her hand on his back. "I know how you feel, little dude."

Trent faces Dr. Gray, who looked at him with his over-teem eyes with tears coming down his face and his voice sounded tearful. "How would you know about how I feel? I don't have any friends, I can't leave the house, I feel like a prisoner in this room and I don't have my parents anymore. I just feel so alone, especially without them."

"I still how you feel, so let me tell you something about myself. When I was your age, I lost both of my parents in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. After that, I lived with my uncle and he worked an extra job or two, just to take care of me, so I was pretty much used to being alone at sometimes during the day. But you're lucky, Trent. You got adopted by a great guy, who happens to be one of my great friends, even your parents' best friend and will love and care about you like his own son, no matter what."

Trent wipes away his tears as Dr. Gray was continuing. "I just see it in ways that you don't see it in. He loves and cares about you; he really does. He can be stern and strict at times, but he still loves and cares about you deeply."

"I know that he loves and cares about me, but his stern and strict over-protectiveness is getting on my nerves. It's just getting so annoying now. He just can't keep me locked away from the world forever."

Dr. Gray sighs. "Look, no matter what, he'll always be there for you, okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright," Dr. Gray gets up from Trent's bed and leaves his room.

"Later and hang in there."

"Okay, I will. Later."

What Dr. Gray said to Trent, made him feel a little bit better.

Even though his father loves and cares for him like his own son, Trent wanted to have a little more freedom and only wished that his father to understand that.


	5. As the Days goes by

**Chapter 5**

The next day, it was a quarter to nine at night and since Trent hasn't watched any television throughout the whole day, he couldn't wait to see what was on tonight. He had on his white shirt and black sweats and runs down into the living room, he flicks through the channels when he sees,

"Sweet!" He exclaimed as he sees on the floor. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial! And since I can only watch up to two-to-three hours of television, I don't have to go to bed until at least eleven-thirty! Nothing could possible ruin this!"

Trent was waiting patiently for the movie on as he was on the floor with his hands on his cheeks and his eyes smiled with glee and exciting. As the movie was about to start, all of a sudden, the TV goes off.

Trent's eyes popped and his mouth was agape in horrific disappointment. He gets up from his knees, turned around and sees that,

"Dad! No!"

His father turned off the television with the remote control.

"Trent," His father said. "Shouldn't you be in bed by now?"

"No, why?" Trent's face looked confused.

"Time for you to go to bed."

"What? It's almost nine and I haven't watched TV _all day_! And you said I can go to sleep at whatever time when it's summer."

"I know that, but when you're grounded, it's nine o'clock. And by the looks of it, it's…" He looks down at his watch. "Eighty-fifty-five on my watch."

He gave his father a weird look that says,_ 'Are you kidding me?'_

"Oh, come on! E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial's on!"

"You can see when you're not grounded."

"Come on, dad," Trent didn't want to do this, but he actually got down on his knees and begged like a helpless puppy on the street. "Please? Please?"

"My final answer is no, Trent and get up and quit begging. You look like a dog."

"I was afraid you would say that."

"Now, Trent."

He kept his anger inside, trying not to explode."Fine! I'll go to bed!" Still feeling frustrated, he stomps out of the living room, up the stairs and into his room, slamming the door behind him and goes to bed with a bitter look on his face and his arms folded.

'_Two days down, five more to go until I'm free.' _Trent thought in his head.

* * *

The next night, Trent decided to go to bed a little bit later the 9:00 bedtime that his father gave to during his punishment of grounded. Even though he was in his room, he was tucked under his covers in a little ball, reading his comic books in the dark.

The lights were out in his room, expect his blue flashlights. Trent laughed and snickers as he was reading his comic books, thinking it was almost the most fun that he had during his punishment.

He was almost too engrossed with the comic books when,

"Trent!"

Trent's head snapped up when he could hear his father on the other side of the door. He quickly hides his comic book and flashlight in the pillowcase of his pillow and puts his head on his pillow.

"Trent?" His father walks into the room with caution. "You okay?" Trent just shrugged his shoulders as if nothing was happening. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

His father gave him a small smile as he was about to leave the room to let Trent get some sleep when he sees a small flash of light behind Trent's pillow. Suspects, he walks over to his bedroom and asked Trent,

"What's behind your pillow?" Trent scoffed in hysterical. "Nothing! Nothing. What makes you think I could be hiding something?"

Anton looks under Trent's pillow and finds his blue flashlight and his comic book.

"Oh, come on! Can I…"

"No," He turns off his flashlight.

"Now, get some sleep. Now, good night."

His father leaves the room, but stops at the door. "What? I don't get a…"

"_Good night, father!_" Trent said calmly but annoyed.

"That's all I wanted to hear." He leaves the bedroom to get Trent gets some sleep.

'_Calm down, Trent.' _Trent thought in his head. _'As long as you stay calm and tried not to lose your mind, you'll be good.'_

* * *

As the days of his punishment continued, Trent felt that it was getting worse and worse.

A couple of days have passed and Trent was still in his room, drawing manga cartoons in his sketchbook, since, of course, he couldn't go outside or at least without his father's permission, he could only watch two-to-three hours of TV, no computer or video games.

Tired of drawing in his sketchbook, he sets it down and lays his head on his pillow. Feeling something lumpy in his bed mattress, he goes into his mattress and finds his Game Boy Color in Atomic Purple.

Trent felt liberated as he found his Game Boy. Luckily, he had his small bag, which had all of his favorite Pokémon games and starts to play it, which felt like the most real fun since he has had during his entire grounding.

After a few hours, he was still playing his Pokémon game and it was only three-thirty in the afternoon.

He was almost too engrossed with the game when,

"Trent?"

Trent's head snapped up when he could hear his father on the other side of the door. He quickly hides his Game Boy in the pillowcase of his pillow and puts his head on his pillow. His father walked into the room with a clean white plate with a toasted Italian BLT sandwich on wheat bread and a glass of ice-cold milk in his hand.

"Hey, Trent," He walks over to his bedside, puts the plate of food on the nightstand and starts his conversation with Trent. "I made you something to eat, just in case you were hungry."

"Wow, that's…nice of you. Thanks, dad." He nervously smiled at him.

As he walked away from his bedside, he started to hear some noises.

"Trent, can you hear that? It sounds like noises are coming from here."

Trent thought in his head, _'Oh, man! I forget to shut off the game.'_

His father started to get more curious. "What's behind you back?"

He nervously shrugs his shoulders, "Nothing, why?"

Anton gently raised his eyebrow and looks under Trent's pillow and finds nothing, but hears the noises that he was hearing earlier closer and closer to him. He hastily goes through his pillowcase and finds his Game Boy.

"Really?"

"You didn't say about…handheld video game…consoles."

"You knew what I meant, Trent. No video games and that also include handheld video games. Now, I'll take this," He also finds Trent's small bag of Pokémon video games. "And I'll take these, too. And I think I'll also take this, too." He takes Trent's CD player that was laying on his nightstand.

Trent tries to grab them from his father's hand, but he pulls them away from him.

"Wait! But, you can't…"

"You'll get them back when you're not grounded."

Feeling like screaming to no end, Trent puts his head on his pillow and faced the wall in anger as his father left his room. He just felt like screaming his mind out.

_Just a few more days, Trent_. He thought in his head. _Just a few more days to go until you're off from being grounded. Just calm down and you'll be fine._

* * *

A couple of days have passed and Trent was still grounded, until Saturday, which was tomorrow. Of course, he was still in his room and sitting on his bed, doing a Rubik's Cube… several times thought out the entire day. When he solved the cube for who knows how long, he was finally getting bored.

He started to hear his stomach grumble and was craving for something sweet. Of course, one in a while, he would have his sweet tooth.

He slowly walks out of his room without peeking inside his father's study as he could be working on some stuff for his company.

He tiptoes his way down the stairs and tiptoes his way until he reaches the entrance of the living room, where he sees his father wasn't in the living room, meaning his thesis was right.

Trent runs into the kitchen, goes in the refrigerator and finds a full gallon on milk and pours himself a full cup of milk in a plastic cup. He puts it back and goes into the fully stocked panty. He closes the door, turns on the ceiling light and finds the cream-color ceramic cookie jar on the lower shelf.

As he opens the lid on the jar, he finds countless black-and-white cookies that Mrs. Carter would bring one in a while and Trent loved them.

But it wasn't like his late mother's homemade Reese's Peanut-Butter Cup cookies that she would make from mini Reese's Peanut-Butter Cups and her S'more cookies that she would make from mini-marshmallows and mini Hershey bars.

He sits down on the wooden footstool and begins to scoff down at least three black-and-white cookies and jugs down half of cup of milk and lets out a big belch at least twice.

_BUUURRRPPP! BBBBUUUUURRRRRPPPP!_

He chews on one more cookie and jugs down the rest of the milk until,

The door to the panty was open and it was his father, standing at the door looking at Trent, who had his face covered in crumbs.

"Are those crumbs all over your face?" He hastily wipes them off. "Ah, _come on_, now! I can't have sweets either?"

"No. Now out. And I'll take this." He takes the jar away from him and puts them on a much higher shelf. After doing that, he locks the pantry door until tomorrow, to keep Trent from going in until tomorrow.

"You can have sweets…"

"When you're not grounded." Trent finishes his sentence, knowing exactly want he would say. "I know, dad. If you need me, I'll be in my room…" He walks out of the room. "Feeling miserable."


	6. Enough

**Chapter 6**

A week has finally passed and just one more week until Trent's twelfth birthday. He just couldn't wait for it to come any more than himself. He was just so excited that he couldn't hide it anymore.

It also meant that Trent was off his punishment from being grounded for sneaking out to go outside without his father's permission, which was great for him since he was about to lose him mind for being in there for an entire week with no video games, music, computer, limited television, a unreasonable and random 9:00 bedtime and no leaving the house or going outside without his permission.

But he managed to survive the week without his precious video games, computer, music, limited television, that dumb and stupid 9:00 bedtime that his father gave him out of the blue and what he so desperately needed: no outside.

Waking up, he looks out his window and it was a sunny day outside.

Trent sighed as he was desperate enough to go outside for some real fun, from being trapped in this house, mostly his room during his room. Throughout this past slowly yet tortured week, he felt that he was being trapped in this big ivory tower, heavily guarded and locked.

Trent changes out from his nightclothes and into his white shirt, jeans and socks.

He slowly walks out of his room, down the stairs and tiptoes his way until he reaches the entrance of the living room, where he sees his father reading a book since he probably has no other work that has to be done for his company today from the corner around the entrance.

He tiptoes back from the living room and makes it to the back door in the kitchen. He silently opens the door when,

"Where do you think you're going?"

_Oh! So close! Just so close and I've would gotten that breath of fresh air._

Trent jumped as he turns around when he saw his father, giving him that look with his arms folded. He stutters to come up with something.

"Well?"

Trent continued to come up with something, but said the truth. "Outside? Just to get some fresh air...from the outside world...maybe?"

_Please say yes. PLEASE! _Trent thought_._

"No." He firmly told him.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No." Anton was started to get annoyed by it.

"Please!"

"NO! No, no and NO!"

_Now he was annoyed with it._

"Oh, come on, dad!" Trent slams the door. "I've stayed in this house and sat in my room all week now, just like you wanted me to. I've been barley watching TV, I went to bed at nine, just like you wanted me to, I've haven't gone on the computer, no music or sweet all week. I'm starting to get pasted my bored limit."

Yet, his father still had his arms folded and said,

"Well, the answer is still no, Trent, even if you like or not. You're still not going outside."

"Well, what do you want me to do, continue to sit in my room all day?"

"Yes. And while you're doing that, you can go read a book or something. Draw in your sketchbook; you're still not going outside, no matter how many times you beg, plead and cry."

Trent didn't know what to do to get though that incredibly thick skull of his father. He still didn't know why his own father was being so stubborn, stingy, stern and strict about him going outside just for a few short minutes and maybe to get some fresh air, instead of being cooped up in this house all day long.

"Come on, dad! Why can't I…?"

"Because I'm your father and I said so. Now, please go back up to your room right now." He calmly tells him and points to him the stairs, telling him to go to his room.

Trent wanted to tell him off so badly, but at the same time, he knew that he did not want to get on his father's bad side, especially when his birthday is next week. He thought that he might get grounded again and the consequences would be more severe than the last grounding. He quietly backed down from the conversation and said,

"Okay. I'll go."

He faintly said as he silently obeyed his father's order and went back up to his room with his head down.

His father watched him go up to his room and sighed depressing. Again, he didn't want to do it, but he just had to; and not for his own good. But for Trent's own good. He goes back into the living room and goes back to his reading.

For some stubborn reason, he _still_ wouldn't let Trent go outside, even if it was only just for a few minutes or maybe just to get a breath of fresh air. But, no. He just ordered Trent to go back to his room; it was almost like deja vu all over again for him.

Hours later, Trent spent most of the afternoon reading his old comic books and drawing in his sketchbook.

He has not felt this bored in his entire life. He wonders if his father going to realize that he cannot take being in his room for the rest of the summer. He feared that his father would continue to do this, as school would happen.

He finally had enough of his father keeping him in the house, especially in his room and plans to tell him that, but calmly.


	7. Understanding Better

**Chapter 7**

He walks down stairs and into the living room with caution and sees his father and Doctors Gray and Carter, all dressed in business suits and Mrs. Carter in a paisley dress and flats, sitting on the couch.

"Hey there, Trent." Mrs. Carter sees him from the entrance of the living room. "How have you've been?"

"I've been okay." He folds his arms as he joined them on the couch with his head down.

Mrs. Carter looks at Anton and said,

"Anton, did you really not let him out of the house for the past week?"

"Yeah."

Dr. Carter stepped in and asked him,

"Why?"

"I'll tell you why and I bet you'll find this story quite entertaining, Stella. He left the house without my permission and lied to me as he told me that he was going to take a nap because he didn't feel good, when really, he locked his room, stole one of the copied house keys from my office, snuck out his window and ran down to the park for almost two hours."

"It's not that big of a deal." Trent muttered under his breath.

Anton overheard what he said. "Excuse me, Trent?"

"I said it wasn't that big of a deal, dad."

"Maybe for you, but not to me."

Mrs. Carter puts her hand on her face and told Anton to stop as she had a bad feeling about it.

"No. Something could have happened to you or worse."

"Oh, come on, Anton! Will you stop?" Dr. Gray said with Dr. Carter agreed by nodding his head.

"Yeah, I agree. Stop before you say something you might rue."

"No! Maybe if he didn't sneak out, maybe read a book or something, none of this would have ever happen."

Trent got up from his seat and defended himself. He didn't care anymore if he was about to get on his father's bad side.

"So, now this is my fault? You're the one who wouldn't let me go outside and kept me inside like some kind of prisoner."

Anton gets up from his seat as he points his finger at Trent, making him feel frightened and intimated as he sat right back down on the couch and bites down on his lip.

"_Don't_ you _ever_, and I mean _and repeat_, _ever_, use that tone of voice with me, young man! I'm your father! I make the rules in this house and you are to abide by _my rules_!"

Mrs. Carter puts her hand out around Trent. "Anton! Stop!"

"No! And for giving me a smart-mouth attitude, he's grounded for two weeks, which means no television, no video games, no computer, _no nothing!_"

Everyone in the room snapped their head and looked at Anton after saying that he grounded Trent for twos week and next week would be his birthday. Now, he was going excessively far.

"What?" Trent exclaimed in shock. "You can't do that to me!"

"Yes, I can! I'm the father and I said so!"

"But that's not fair!" He gets up from the couch again. "Why are you still treating me like I'm still a baby?" Trent felt the sting in his eyes coming down.

"Because you're acting like one!" "But, dad…!"

"No, Trent! Not…another…word." He points his finger to the stairs, telling him to go to his room. Trent, with tears slowly coming from his eyes, calmly walks away from the couch.

But he stops walking, clutched his feet and teeth and out of anger; he kicks a side table, knocking down a lamp, grabs a pillow, and throws it.

"Man!" He exclaimed in anger. "You don't let me do _anything!_" He kicks a side table, knocking down two small vases and runs out of the room and to his room in tears.

Everyone could hear his foot stomps upstairs to his room and could hear his bedroom door being slammed, which made them jump a bit.

_SLAM!_

Doctors Gray, Carter and Mrs. Carter all looked at Anton, who remained calm.

"Think one could talk to him for me?"

"No, Anton," Mrs. Carter said. "_You_ have to talk to him."

"I don't have to explain myself to a child like him, Stella."

Mrs. Carter gets up from her seat. "That's the thing, Anton: he's _not_ a child anymore; and sooner or later, he'll practically be a teenager, even if you like it or not."

"Ohh!" Dr. Gray exclaimed. "Good luck raising them, now; especially when you have _two_, with one of them being a moody emotional drama queen and the other one being a wanna-be mack-daddy." Mrs. Carter playfully rolled her eyes as he continued.

"Anyway, Anton, Trent has no one his age to play, hang out or to be with. You have been keeping him trapped in this house lately; I mean, the kid just lost his parents this past summer and probably feels alone because of it. You keeping him in his room is just going to make him more alone and probably miserable."

"I went through it and I turned out fine."

Dr. Carter, Stella, and Dr. Gray all game Anton these weird looks that Trent's been giving him lately as he didn't seem to back down by what they were saying to him. Dr. Carter steps in and tries to talk some sense into Anton.

"Look, Anton. We know you two have been on an emotional roller coaster this summer; we get that. I mean, you love and care about him so much like your own son tremendously that it's only naturally that you want to protect him, but do you think taking this grounding and over-protectiveness too far? Do you really want Trent to sit in his room 24/7, all the time, like some kind of prisoner, feeling miserable?"

Mrs. Carter continued to talk for Dr. Carter.

"Anyway, the point is…do you really want to keep Trent locked away from the world forever? Like what _your_ parents tried to do to _you_ when you were his age?"

"It's not that... I don't want him outside; I do want him to go outside, but..."

"Then what's the problem, Anton? What's the real main reason it? Is it what you guys went though this past summer?"

"Not really?"

"Then what is?" Stella finally realized it. "Is it because...?" Anton just shook his head.

"Oh, my..." Kevin and Gary realized it, too.

Anton has his head down when she said that and began quiet. That one really hit home for him. As he sat down on the couch, he looks at a picture with a gold frame of a young vivacious woman with her arms wrapped around a little boy. They tried to sympathies him.

"I mean, do you want the kid to sit in his room and the house all day?"

"No."

"Then why are you doing it to him?"

"Because I'm stubborn and have a thick skull."

"Of course you do." Stella said as she sat down.

Dr. Gray passes his hand on Anton's shoulder as he lets out a deep sigh.

"Just hear him out."

"I…uh…better go talk to him." Anton turned to leave, but Dr. Gray stopped him.

"But not right now. At least give him some time to cool off."

They all could hear destructive noise coming from upstairs, most likely Trent's room.

"Maybe wait an hour or two. Maybe three."


	8. The Truth Is

**Chapter 8**

Later, it was nighttime and Trent was in his room, dressed in his white long-sleeve pajama, black sweats and was throwing everything at the wall about his father grounding him for two weeks and his birthday was next week and was in a fit of rage. His room was a complete mess and he didn't care anymore.

"It's not fair! It's not fair! _IT'S…NOT…FAIR!_" He throws his cube at the wall.

He was feeling was both sad and anger. "I just got off from being grounded and now I'm grounded…again…for _two weeks_! And my birthday's next week!" He felts tears coming down from his eyes and the sadness. "And for what? Speaking my mind!"

"No TV, no games, no outside, no music, no _anything_! And I've _had it_!" He throws his sketchbook at the wall. He sniffles and wipes away the tears from his tear-brimmed eyes and chided his hands on his head in a desperate attempt from trying not to lose his mind. He was at his breaking point.

"I'm _sick and tired _of being trapped in this room _all day _like some kind of prisoner of war! What's it going to through that thick skull of his for him to even understand and maybe have the smallest sense that I'm miserable just being trapped in this stupid room _all the time_?" He lays his head under his pillow and puts his other pillow on his face and screamed to release the demons that were trapped inside his head.

Someone knocked on his bedroom door and Anton still comes into his room and he carried a photo book with him."Trent?"

He immediately recognized his father's voice. He chided his hands on his ears, so that he couldn't hear him.

"_Go away and just leave me alone!_" He lies on his stomach as he puts his chin on the pillow and pull the covers over him as he didn't want his father bothering him anymore. He was just tried of his father punishing him and unfairly sending him to room without reason. "Oh and don't worry, dad; I'm 'sitting in my room', just like you wanted me to. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Not anymore, Trent okay? I just want to talk to you, that's all."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you, okay?" He turned his body around. "So, just do me this one simple favor and leave me alone. It'll make everything easier for the both of us." Trent begins to take the covers off of him and said,

"But now that you mentioned it, let's talk." He began to get sarcastic with him. "Are you going to hire a team of secret agents to follow my every move. No, wait. I have a better idea. Are you planning to put a tracking device in my brain while I'm asleep, so that you know my every move." He pulls the covers over his head again.

"Come on, now. At least listen to me."

"You never listen to me and what I try to say, so why should I anyway? Am I in more trouble already, dad? That must be a whole-new record for you. Because if it is, is it because of what I've just said to you downstairs or you're just it to make me feel miserable and for your own amusement?"

"You're not in trouble, okay? And I'm not doing it for my own amusement. Just listen to me; that's the least you can do."

He tries to take the covers off Trent's face, but Trent snubbed his hand away from under the covers.

"Alright. I…can understand that I made you too mad at me."

"No, really?" Trent said to his father in a sarcastic tone.

He sat down on the edge of the bed next to him before he could continue. Trent still didn't want to hear what his father would say. He just had his pillow on top of his face, the covers were over him and blocked out his father's hearing.

"Trent, I want to apologize for being such an overprotective, stern and strict tyrant with you. I guess…after what happened this past summer and what we went though, I started to worry about you and sent you to your room for being unreasonable with you lately. Maybe I got little too worry and I went overboard with it."

"Wow, really?" Trent, again, sarcastically said. "I haven't notice."

"Well, excuse me for still being new at being a parent. And I have a good reason for it. Take a look at this."

He opens up the book and it was endless photos of Anton and two people in the photos with him. Trent still wasn't looking nor was getting up.

"Come on, Trent. At least look at them."

Trent finally gets up and looks the photo album. Curious, Trent asked,

"Was this you and your parents?"

He chuckles, "Yeah, they were."

Trent flipped to the next page and it was endless photos of a girl with long blonde hair, blue eyes and smiling in most of the photos. "Who's that girl?"

"That…was my older sister, Diana."

Trent's brown eyes popped out of his head. In his head he thought,

_He had a sister. Wow! And she looks pretty, too._ "Really?" His father nods his head. "What about her?"

His father let out a depressing and long sigh. "It's…kind of sad; the story."

Anton struggled to get the words out of his mouth.

"When she was your age, she was kidnapped from the park. But like you, she wasn't hurt or anything, but after that, our parents wouldn't let us go to the park or outside for a while."

"Really?" His father shook his head.

Trent was starting to feel more curious about her.

"Well, what ever happened to her? Where…is she now?"

Anton's eyes were saddened and felt the struggle of the golf ball in his throat.

"This is where it gets more tragic," He sighs heavily and struggled to get the words out of his mouth.

"Sometime after she graduated from college, she was kidnapped again by her old kidnapper while she was out with her friends. Her kidnapper escaped from prison at the time. She was found after three hours, but by the time she was found, she was killed when he drowned her."

Trent was surprised and shock to hear that his could-have-been adoptive Aunt Diana was killed in a second kidnapping attempt and by the same person. His father continued with the story.

"He was arrested and put into federal prison for life without parole. Since then, my parents have been overprotective with me, because of what she went though and what happened to her."

Trent was speechless and stunned by what his father had told her about his late sister, Diana. He flipped to the next page and there were old newspapers and articles about her. They were all about her kidnapping, rescue from her kidnapper as a child and her death, memorial service and funeral.

"Oh. Wow…"

Now Trent understands why his father has been in over-worried over-protective mode lately. He thought,

_So that's why he was so worry lately about what happened to me._

"You…could have told me."

"I know, Trent, but…I didn't know how to tell you. I think that's why I grounded you for the week instead of just the weekend when you snuck out, but I didn't want to isolate your from everyone else. I just didn't want history to repeat itself again."

"Still, you could have told me."

"I really wanted to, but…I didn't know how to tell you."

Trent lays his head on his chest. "Oh. Well, I'm sorry if I've been acting downstairs."

"Don't apologize, Trent. And besides, you were right. _I'm_ the one who should be sorry to you and I'm definitely sorry if I haven't taken the time to listen to you and been grounding you unfairly without a good and fair reason, but you have to understand this, Trent. I didn't want to go through all that again."

Trent nods his head in agreement.

"Tell you what, Trent; I'll cancel your punishment for the two weeks. You can go back playing with your video games and computer, go back to listening to you music and you can watch TV all day and eat sweets, but…can you promise me one thing?"

Trent nods his head again.

"Stay in the house until Saturday."

"Why? But you said…"

"I know, but it'll be a surprise; it's all I'll tell you. Promise me, okay?"

"Okay."

Trent was feeling puzzled about it, but is willing to promise his father.

His father gave him a quick hug and got up from sitting on the bed. Before he could leave, Trent asked him,

"Dad, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, son."

"Does the worry ever go away?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Because in years when I get old, you'll start worrying about me." He gives him a small smile before leaving the room. "Good night, Trent."

"Night."


End file.
